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480. Most savage and barbarous nations form their clothing from the skins of animals. Some of these nations understand the art of making them soft and pliable like leather.

481. Some barbarous nations make a kind of felt for their covering; others, as in Polynesia, clothe themselves in mats, or in a kind of cloth resembling paper, made of the bark of trees. Some on the Eastern Continent are acquainted with the art of weaving cloth.

482. Among civilized and half-civilized nations, hemp, flax, cotton, wool and silk, are woven into various kinds of cloth, which are used for clothing and other important purposes.

483. We obtain the finest carpets and shawls from Turkey and Persia, and the manufacture of cloths from cotton and silk is best understood among the half-civilized nations of Asia.

484. The manufacture of cloths is also carried to a high degree of perfection in Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany.

485. These nations, with Holland, Switzerland and Italy, have supplied the greater part of the civilized world with cloths. Great Britain is most distinguished for the quantity and excellence of its cloth manufactures

486. The people of the United States have been rapidly improving in the manufacture of cloths within a few years, especially in the northern states. Many kinds are now made as well as in Europe.

487. Most barbarous nations practice the art of pottery in some rude way. The Chinese porcelain, or china ware, was formerly superior to any found in Europe. It is now equalled only in France, Germany and England, which furnish most of the fine crockery we use.

488. The instruments used by us in the art of building are unknown among savages; and they generally live in rude huts, little better than those made by the beaver, and other animals.

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489. The buildings of barbarous nations are not much better than those of savages; and it is only among civilized nations that this art is perfectly understood.

490. The arts of navigation and printing are unknown to savage and barbarous nations, and only imperfectly known to the Chinese and other half-civilized nations.

491. The Chinese, Japanese and Birmans cut out blocks of wood for printing each page in a book, which cannot be used for any other. Civilized nations print from moveable types, which may be used for many books in succession, and require much less labour.

492. Painting and sculpture, of a rude kind, are among the first arts learned by savages. They were used to convey information and preserve the history of events among the American Indians, especially the Mexicans.

493. They are carried to perfection only in Italy, and the most refined nations of Europe.

Questions.-Are there any distinct trades among savage nations? What change is made when men become civilized? What is the effect of this change? What is the most important art, and why? Is this art known to savage and barbarous nations? Is it known to balf-civilized nations? What can you say of agriculture, or the art of tilling the ground? What nations understand the art of cooking and preserving food best? What nations make intoxicating liquors? What is the clothing of savage and barbarous nations, generally? What exceptions are there to this? What is the clothing of civilized nations?

Where is the manufacture of the various kinds of cloth understood? Which are the principal manufacturing nations.? What has been done in the United States, as to manufactures? What nations understand pottery? What can you say of the buildings of savages? What of those in barbarous nations? What important arts are mentioned next, and to whom are they known? How do the Chinese print? What nations understand painting and sculpture? What nations excel in them?

CANALS.

494. Canals are artificial passages for water, usually made to unite two rivers or portions of the sea, for inland navigation.

495. They often pass under mountains, and often flow in acqueducts over rivers, being supplied with water from some higher stream or lake.

496. On the Nile, the Euphrates and the Rhine, for some distance above their mouths, canals are formed to drain the land, which answer the purposes of navigation.

497. In the Netherlands, they serve as roads, on which the people travel in boats through all parts of the country.

498. China is most distinguished for the length and size of its canals, some of which are large enough to receive ships. The Imperial Canal of China is 500 miles long, and at its termination in the Hoang-Ho, one fifth of a mile wide.

499. The principal canals in Russia are from the Volga to the Neva and the Don. Connected with the great rivers of Siberia, they form an inland navigation, almost complete, from the Amour of Tartary and the Pacific Ocean, to the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas.

500. In Prussia there are canals which connect the Vistula with the Oder and the Elbe.

501. From the Baltic Sea, a canal is cut across the southern part of Denmark to the North Sea. The Rhone is also connected by several canals in France, with the Seine and the Loire. In this way, there is an inland navigation from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

502. The largest canal in France, and indeed in Europe, is the Canal Royal of Languedoc, 180 miles in length, from the Mediterranean to the river Garonne.

503. There are numerous canals in England and Scotland. Twenty-two of these connect the North Sea with the Irish Sea.

504. The Grand Trunk, uniting Liverpool by the rivers Mersey and Trent, to Hull, is 99 miles long. It has a branch of 90 miles to the Thames, and another of 40, to the River Severn.

505. In the United States, a number of canals, some

of them 6 or 7 miles long, have been cut around the falls of our principal rivers. North Carolina contains two of this kind; Virginia twelve; New-York two; and Massachusetts and N. Hampshire, several more.

506. The greatest work of this kind, yet undertaken in our country, is the Grand Canal of New York, designed to extend 350 miles, most of which is finished. (See map of the United States.)

507. The longest canals now completed, are 1st, from the Merrimack river, 30 miles, to Boston; 2d, from Lake Champlain, 60 miles, to the Hudson River; 3d, one of 16 miles, connecting the waters of Chesapeake Bay with those of Albemarle Sound; and 4th, one of 22 miles, in South Carolina, between Cooper River at Charleston and the Santee.

Questions.-What are canals? How are they often constructed? What is the chief object of canals, at the mouths of some great rivers? What country is most distinguished for its canals ? What is the length and size of the Imperial Canal of China ? What places are connected by means of it? (See the map.) What are the chief canals of Russia, and what great inland nav. igation is nearly completed by them? Describe the course by inland waters, with two portages by land, from the Amour to the Baltic and the Mediterranean?

What canals in Prussia, and what seas are connected by them? What is the nearest water communication from the eastern part of the Baltic to the Rhone and other rivers of France? Which is the longest canal in France? What can you say of the canals of England and Scotland? Where is the Grand Trunk, what branches has it? What ports are thus connected? What are the most common canals in the United States? Which will be the longest when finished, and how much is now complete? What are the longest canals completed ?

COMMERCE.

508. In almost every country the people are in want of some things found in other countries, while they have more of other things than they need; and this gives rise to commerce.

509. Thus in the United States we have more wheat and cotton than we need, and therefore we send it to other countries, in exchange for coffee, sugar and cloths, of which we are

in want.

510. The commerce of savage nations is generally the exchange of one kind of goods for another. As this is not always convenient, civilized nations use money to exchange for every thing.

511. Thus, if our cotton is worth more than the cloth, &c. we obtain from Europeans, they give us money to pay the difference; and as the Chinese do not want our productions, we send the money to buy tea from them.

512. Gold, silver, and copper coins are the money of civilized and half-civilized nations; but among savage and barbarous nations, beads, shells, or even grains of salt are used as money. 513. The arts of ship-building and navigation are well understood among civilized nations only, who are thus enabled to carry on commerce by sea, with all parts of the world.

514. The inhabitants of Turkey and Barbary, many of whom are Greeks, are the only half-civilized nations who understand these arts in any considerable degree; and their commerce is chiefly on the Mediterranean Sea.

515. The Chinese, and other half-civilized nations, are so imperfectly acquainted with navigation and ship-building, that their commerce is chiefly in their own country, by means of rivers and canals.

516. In the dry and desert countries of Asia and Africa, commerce is chiefly carried on over land. The merchants travel with camels, in large bodies, called caravans, which go and return at certain periods. A similar trade is carried on over the Andes of South America, with mules and lamas.

517. The trade of savage and barbarous nations is very limited, because they have little to give in exchange, and their ignorance of navigation prevents their going to any great distance from the land.

518. The most commercial nations of the world are Great Britain, the United States, France, Spain, Russia, Portugal, and the Netherlands.

519. The commerce of Spain, Portugal and Holland, which was chiefly with her colonies, has very much declined. That of Russia is rapidly increasing.

520. The ships of the United States, as well as those of Great Britain, go, in great numbers, to every part of the world, and obtain its productions and manufactures, usually in exchange for those of their own country.

521. The amount of shipping from the ports of the United States is nearly equal to that of Great Britain, and exceeds that of any other nation whose commerce is known.

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